Nov. 5 – SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Hiram College volleyball program finished their 2015-16 season with a split on the second and final day of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship Tournament on Saturday. The Terriers, playing in the consolation bracket, defeated Oberlin 3-0, before falling 3-1 to Kenyon College.

In the victory over Oberlin, the Terriers faced a solid challenge, winning two of the three sets by just a pair of points. Hiram took the match by set scores of 25-23, 25-20 and 26-24.

The Terriers forced an early Yeowomen timeout in the opening set, rattling off four-straight points including an ace from senior Laura Kelly, and kills from both junior Madison Fortune and senior Marissa Jay.

Following the timeout, however, Oberlin came back, taking the next five points to capturing the next six points to take a 6-4 lead.

Trailing 7-6, the Terriers would respond, embarking on a 7-0 run with senior Claire Maier serving. Jay tallied another kill in the run, while Maier bookended the swing with an ace. The other five points were turned in on errors by Oberlin.

Still leading by a sizable margin (18-10), Hiram saw Oberlin use a 7-2 advantage to shrink the lead to three (20-17). The run would continue by Oberlin, eventually pulling the set within a point on a service ace by Lola Gatti (23-22).

Hiram would earn the set one victory, however, thanks in large part to Jay, who posted the last two kills of the set to give the Terriers the 25-23 win.

Set two was just as close as the first before the Terriers pulled away late to take the set 25-20. The first run of the set came with Hiram leading by two (7-5). Three kills from Jay and another service ace by Kelly provided the catalyst to a 6-0 run, giving the Terriers a 13-5 lead.

Oberlin would battle all the way back, eventually taking a 19-18 lead on a set error by the Terriers. Kelly would turn the Terriers' fortunes around, however, tying the game on a kill that started a 7-1 run, giving Hiram the 25-20 win.

Holding to the same script as the first two sets, the Terriers once again jumped out to an early lead, this time taking an early 6-2 advantage on a kill by freshman Mary Williams.

Oberlin would chip into the lead little-by-little, eventually taking a two-point lead at 16-14. From there, the game would go back and forth, seeing eight more ties.

The Yeowomen appeared to be in the driver's seat to take the match to a fourth set, leading 24-23, but a three-point run by the Terriers ended the match.

The Terriers went to their offensive leader for their final points, as Jay tallied all three kills for the final points, including the game-winner that gave Hiram the 26-24 set win, and the match 3-0.

Jay, who was named the conference's Player of the Year during the day's festivities, led the offense, finishing with 18 total kills. Kelly also kept Oberlin off balance, posting a season-high six service aces in the win.

Defensively, Kelly was once again on the top of her game, tallying a game-high 18 digs. Senior Megan Schaefer added 13, while Fortune finished with 10.

The Terriers then moved on to play Kenyon College in their final match of the season. Kenyon made it to the fifth-place match after falling 3-1 to Denison before defeating Wooster by a 3-0 score.

Despite holding leads in both of the first two sets, the Terriers dropped the first pair of games in the late stages. The Ladies a five-point advantage in set one to win the set 26-24. The Terriers then saw a late three-point advantage (23-20) disappear, falling in set two by a tally of 28-26.

Hiram continued to battle in the third set, and worked to pull themselves back into the match. The two programs would battle back-and-forth throughout the set, as game three saw 10 ties and five lead changes.

Trailing 23-22, head coach Aline Scott used her second and final timeout of the set, and the Terriers responded, scoring the final three points of the set to win it 25-23. Marissa Jay posted a pair of kills, including the set winner to pull Hiram within a game at 2-1.

Like the previous three sets before it, set four found the teams deadlocked midway through the game at 13-13.

The Terriers were able to force a Kenyon timeout, thanks to a 3-0 run that gave them a 16-13 advantage. Fortune led the way in the run with a pair of kills that gave Hiram the lead.

Hiram remained in the lead 22-19, until a 4-1 run by the Ladies knotted the game at 23-23. Kenyon would then go on to finish off the match by taking the last two points, 25-23.

Playing in the final game of her career, Jay finished the match with 26 kills and a career-high 26 digs. Her kill total gave her 511 on the season, while the double-double marked her 19^th of the season.

Fontana also helped lead the Terrier offense, tying a season-high with 13 kills while hitting .391 in the match.

The four Terrier seniors, along with 27 other senior volleyball players around the NCAC, were honored before the matchup. The four senior members (Jay, Megan Schaefer, Maier and Kelly) helped the Terriers to their eighth-consecutive 20-win season as Hiram finished 20-9. Overall in four seasons, the Terrier seniors combined for a record of 88-37 (.707 winning percentage).